Crashed Ice under way in St. Paul

St. Paul's single-digit temperatures proved too cold even for the ice at the Red Bull Crashed Ice National Shootout on Thursday.

The bitter cold caused portions of the course's 1,312 feet of ice to become brittle and chip under the skates of the 94 American competitors during their first practice runs about 11 a.m.

"Anytime you throw a hundred athletes on ice like that it's going to get chewed up a little bit," said Charlie Wasley, coach of the U.S. Crashed Ice team.

He said the ideal temperature for the course is in the mid-20-degree range.

The National Shootout -- two rounds of time trials to determine which 32 American skaters will advance to the Elimination Round -- got under way about 5 p.m., four hours after the scheduled start time.

Before that, crews resurfaced the course by spraying water on the patches of rough ice.

Some loyal fans, including Tom Gross of Pine City, Minn., waited out much of the delay. Gross was there to watch his 27-year-old son, David, compete in his first Crashed Ice event.

"He says it's even harder than it looks," Gross said before watching his son navigate the bone-jarring hills, jumps and turns on the course erected on the east side of the Cathedral of St. Paul overlooking downtown.

"I'm just hoping he ends up in one piece."

David Gross, a former hockey player, said that even though his times -- 51.2 seconds and 50.3 seconds -- didn't earn him a spot in the next round of competition, he plans to give it another try next year.

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He said his times would have been lower if he hadn't taken a couple of hard spills on a section of the course that rises up in four waves.

Wasley said the waves caused a lot of ugly wipeouts.

"That was the gnarliest section," he said. "I didn't see anything worse than bruised pride, though."

The top 32 American skaters in Thursday's trials will advance to the next round of competition during Friday afternoon's International Shootout. The fastest skaters from both teams will compete in the Finals on Saturday.

St. Paul city officials say they expect attendance at the Crashed Ice event to exceed the estimated 80,000 who showed up on the concluding day of "Ice Cross Downhill World Championship" last year, especially because this year more than 50 bars in the Twin Cities and as far away as Northfield and Mankato have chartered shuttle buses to carry patrons to the spectacle.

There are 27,000 parking spots in downtown St. Paul, and Red Bull has arranged for off-site parking with free shuttles to the Crashed Ice course.

Metro Transit is offering a pass for free rides on buses and light rail from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday. The pass can be downloaded and printed at stpaul.gov/crashedice.

The city of St. Paul web page also has links to maps for parking, shuttle stops, road closures and bus detours for Metro Transit routes 21 and 65 during the event.